Noble City bioengineering protests, 2012
The Noble City bioengineering protests of 2012 were a reaction to the announcement on the 9th of May by Christopher Costello, the CEO of Costello Enterprises, that the corporation intended to "engage in humane genetic engineering projects."Costello in the Pub, May 9th, 2012. Costello made the announcement to obtain reassurance that such an undertaking would be well-received by the Lovian public. Responses were fairly negative at first, with Ilava stating that "CCPL can't ever support this."Ilava in the Pub, May 9th, 2012. Other conservatives such as Breyev and Hoffman, as well as Labour politician Abrahams, expressed some skepticism, and requested more detail of the plans. Around a week later, Costello had succeeded in allaying most of their concerns, and the informal consultation came to an end. Ilava, however, remained unconvinced, and stated rhetorically that "CCPL has a new campaigning point now and we will surely make sure that we're heard." On the 18th of May, a large group of protestors marched west along Freedom Avenue in Noble City towards the corporation's headquarters, in an action supported by the Lovian conservative faction. Brunanter politician Adrian Vandreck of the Christian Democratic Union has also protested Costello Enterprises' actions. Protesters Most of the protesters were conservative Christians motivated by their religious beliefs, but some were merely critics of Costello Enterprises' business methods. There were also a sizeable proportion from the farming community, some of whom felt that GM research posed a risk to their livelihood. Paul Gow, leader of the Association of Clymeni Farmers, said: 'At present GM research does not pose a huge risk to Lovian farmers, but we anticipate this could be a step onto a slippery slope. Eventually, we could end with a situation where Lovian farmers who are contaminated by patented GM seeds and crops get sued for patent infringement by giant transnational corporations. Action is needed now.' Breyev also stated that he supported the 'protesters' attempt to make a Christian voice heard in Lovia.' Criticism Costello gave an unofficial statement on the 8th of June, calling the protests an 'overreaction' and reiterating that the proposed projects were 'common practices.' He criticised the way in which the protestors had portrayed them as controversial new developments, particularly the use of the word 'experiments.' He also sought to reassure protestors from the farming community, telling a delegation, 'these practices do not pose a threat to any other businesses in the East Sylvania region.' After it became clear that there was some confusion over what he meant, Costello clarified that the company's genetic engineering practices do not pose a threat to the ecology of any location in Lovia, or the rest of the world, for that matter. When asked how he planned on assuring those protesting because of their religious or moral standing, Costello replied that to make any attempt towards doing so would be futile. He noted that his company was making an effort to better the agricultural industry of Lovia through engineering 'better crops for usage in multiple industries, if simply for the benefit of the world.' He revealed that if or when these practices yield a successful product, that he aims to have them patented, but only so that his company can take credit, and that he does not plan on claiming exclusive rights to his product. Furthermore, if any successful crop variation from his company is approved by the Ministry of Environment and the government, he will offer to distribute them amongst the independent crop producers of Lovia free of charge, in an honest effort to improve Lovian crop production and the agricultural industry. In other words, the products would be free use and open source. He referred to it as a 'win, win situation.' He stated that the company's genetic engineering projects are 'still young' and are not anticipated to yield results for a while, so it came as a surprise to him that the people reacted so quickly and fervently. He did, however, confirm that if any problems were to arise from the projects being preformed by the company, that he would be more than capable of remedying the situation. References and notes Category:Noble City Category:Article with references